Law to remain as Poppies manager

Jon Dunham

Kettering Town chairman Ritchie Jeune believes Marcus Law is “the man to lead the club forward” following 24 hours of speculation surrounding the manager’s future.

It had been widely rumoured throughout yesterday (Sunday) that Law had tendered his resignation following the Poppies’ 2-0 defeat at Evo-Stik Southern League Premier Division strugglers Bideford on Saturday.

Jeune has now confirmed that Law did “indicate his intention to resign”.

However, following discussions between chairman and manager today, Jeune has given Law his backing while conceding “things need to improve on the pitch” following an inconsistent start to the season.

In a statement released this evening, Jeune said: “Firstly I’d like to apologise to the fans for the time it has taken to issue this statement.

“As has been widely rumoured, very early on Sunday morning Marcus passed a communication to the team in which he indicated his intention to resign for what he felt was the good of the club.

“Before this was communicated to me personally, I wanted to talk with Marcus directly.

“I was instrumental in bring Marcus to the club and he was key to my plans for the youth system moving forward.

“Unfortunately I had prior commitments on Sunday and Marcus was travelling away for his full-time job in Scotland today, so we were unable to speak at length until late today.

“It is no secret that we have failed to find the balance and consistent form on the pitch so far this season that we would like.

“With that in mind we are, however, still within touching distance of the play-offs with an average record.

“One of the things which was clear about Marcus in his interview for the manager’s post was that being average was not on his agenda.

“During our conversation today Marcus expressed his despair at not being able to provide the level of performance demanded by Kettering Town fans and board members alike.

“He was disappointed that a number of targets failed to be excited by the prospect of joining Kettering Town, something to which I feel he felt some kind of personal blame.

“As I outlined to him, I and the board will take equal responsibility if under our stewardship players do not feel the club is a place they want to come and play.

“I have always outlined that, in the eyes of the board, the budget for this level is competitive and that we would not go back to the days of ‘boom and bust’ to bring in players who fail to see what we are achieving at the club or fail to buy into our plans.

“All that said things do need to improve on the pitch. Marcus himself identified this and any fan who was at the game last Saturday will not have failed to see that.

“I believe that we have the foundation of a good squad, I believe that Marcus is the man to lead the club forward and with the support of the board and the fans we will achieve our aims.”

Law will now be preparing for the Poppies’ FA Trophy second qualifying round clash with Burscough at Latimer Park on Saturday.